Erratas

About

"Erratas" (Sometimes spelled as "Eratas" to avoid detection) is the name of a supposed computer algorithm, which is utilized by major corporations worldwide. This algorithm may be used to remove copyright infringement on websites such as YouTube, and can be seen as a form of mass surveillance. The mystery shrouding "Erratas" comes from how employees of certain companies are supposedly fired if the algorithm's name shows up in their file search history, and how "Erratas" seems to target and delete any mention of it's name online. The word "Erratas" (Plural) or "Errata" means "Error" or "Printing mistake" in Latin. Some suggest that the "Erratas" mystery is just an Alternate Reality Game (ARG) or random coincidences. The mysteries and connections have since spurred a series of complicated conspiracy theories.

Origin

On November 25th, 2015, an anonymous user on 4chan posted in the /x/ board a summary of a conversation with a woman about how she was given a "shady" factory job by a temporary employment agency. The post^[1] goes on to say that she picked up a tape gun with the word "Erratas" (Misspelled as "Eratas") written on it instead of a normal factory department's name. She was told by a co-worker to get rid of it and to never mention the odd name to any supervisors. The co-worker explains that anybody who searched on their computers for the name was "flagged" and fired immediately.

The post reads:

They had a programming department that made payroll programs for other companies or something along those lines, but by the time she got there it was just literally one dude, and they were giving him random jobs to do like working assembly lines and running forklifts. They put her and this dude in a room, gave them a couple tape guns, and had them pack stuff in boxes. Most stuff there had the names of their respective departments written on them in sharpie, but hers said "Eratas" on it (or however the fuck it's spelled). The dude told her to get rid of the tape gun and not to mention it to any supervisors, since apparently one of his jobs years before had been writing code to flag any employee that searched for it in their computer system. Not any old word, just that one. And they'd fire you if you got flagged. Weird shit.

Spread

Less than one month later, on December 19th, another anonymous user posted about "Erratas." They wrote,^[2] "Did anyone here have any software/IT jobs on the east coast between 2000 and 2010 or so? I ask because a few people I know from that time and area have talked about some sort of sketchy HR-related program called 'Erratas,' and I'm wondering if I can find any information about it."

A month later, on December 19, 2015, another anon posted a question that asked if anyone worked in IT from 2000 to 2010 to find out about some "sketchy program" they've heard of from locals, and mentions the name "Erratas" again. A few companies were named that may use the program, such as UPS.

Discovery of ChronosForLife

A post was made in /mu/ on January 25th, 2016 from a user who wanted to create a new genre of music called "Deep Internet". Music in this genre would be comprised of snippets and noise from very obscure YouTube videos. A set of links accompanied the description, and one of them led to a YouTube video titled "Youtube is MONITORING and controlling my life." The video was uploaded on January 23th, 2016 by a channel named "ChronosForLife JurassicPark". In it, the distressed uploader talks about how Youtube and it's "algorithms" are targeting him and his deceased mother's tribute videos to the Jurassic Park movies.

This channel uploaded another video titled "Here goes nothing…", which claims to be bait for the "Er****s" (Erratas) algorithm to flag and delete (screenshot, below). The description reads: "If it flags this one, that's some spooky shit."

Soon after the post's discovery, some discovered that if they turned on YouTube's Automatic Captions feature, which known to create sentences out of normal speech and cannot be altered by the uploader or YouTube, an address that reads "200 Corbin KY 40219" is written in the captions at one point in the video. This is the address listed on the Bandcamp page of "KFC Murder Chicks," which was later removed.

Another discovery in one of his other videos came in a morse code message near the end of his "Jurassic Park 3 Tribute Re-Upload" video. When translated, the message reads: "Hollywood Astral Projection Clinic." No explanation has currently been found for this message.

ChronosForLife uploaded a Q&A video where they answered questions in the comments sections of his other videos, but it has since been taken down. However, an anon managed to write a transcript of the video.^[4]

In the transcript, ChronosForLife describes Erratas: " All I really know about Erratas is that it's used by dozens of companies. ("recent", as in, within the last 5 or 6 years) they seem to use it as a copyright-enforcement tool which works as an excellent [?] if you want to take down other things as well."

Tod Ellsworth's Youtube Channel & Twitter Posts

A channel by the name of Tod Ellsworth^[3] uploaded a video on November 21, 2015. Its content is a song by the band "KFC Murder Chicks." In the description, the phrase "Erratas or Rusts" is written at the end of the description.

Tod Ellsworth also has a Twitter page.^[4] On it, only three posts have been made by "him." The first one is an image of a computer-generated police sketch of a suspected Maui rapist (shown below).

Connections with ChronosForLife have been suggested after discovering that "Tod Ellsworth" is an anagram for "The Lost World" as in the sequel to the film Jurassic Park, The Lost World: Jurassic Park.

"KFC Murder Chicks"'s Bandcamp Page

The Bandcamp page of "KFC Murder Chicks" has long since disappeared. On it, there were odd paragraphs of text and a reference to "Tod Ellsworth"'s name.

When questioned about "Erratas" on their Tumblr, they seemingly confused the name with a Yu-Gi-Oh spell card. However, when asked about their dislike for the post office, they say they're against the post office due to them being tied to "spying and profiling". A post on Tod Ellsworth's Twitter page describes something similar, mentioning the Postal Service and how it's supposedly linked to the "Deep Web".

And lastly, when asked about their favorite movie, they answered with: "I've always been a fan of the carnosaur movies." Some have speculated to be another link to ChronosForLife.

A video by the YouTuber blameitonjorge made further connections, stating that the band was "homeless girl band" and that one of the members worked in a warehouse, much like the woman described in the original 4chan post.

Takedown of Exer Erb's Youtube Channel

"Exer Erb" was a fairly new channel with a video on "Erratas" that explained the mystery and it's origins very well. However, their channel was later taken down by YouTube and has not resurfaced. An uploader named "Toxicologist" has a video, which discusses Exer Erb's sudden disappearance (shown below).

Anons Banned By 4chan For Discussing "Erratas"

Midway through April 2016, threads about "Erratas" were reportedly deleted and anons who tried to discuss "Erratas" were banned, leading some to believe that "Erratas" was installed on 4chan and is trying to delete threads mentioning it. One anon was banned for "Copyright Infringement," despite the fact that copyrighted material is frequently featured on 4chan.

Since then, that group of anons has moved to a thread on 8chan.

The term "Errata'd" is an in-joke here that's said whenever something is believed to be affected by Erratas's work.

blameitonjorge Video

On September 7th, 2019, YouTuber blameitonjorge published the video "Erratas: The Mysterious Word You Shouldn't Search For." Within six days, the video received more than 541,000 views (shown below).

Search Interest

External References